Museum Panorama Mesdag recently celebrated its 100,000th visitor of 2025. The museum reached this milestone a month earlier than last year. If the current upward trend continues, the museum expects to reach 110,000 visitors by the end of this year – a 10% increase compared to 2024.
31st Rijksmuseum
This special event coincides with another historic moment: the museum will officially receive national museum status in 2026. This recognition underscores the unique cultural and historical importance of the Scheveningen Panorama and the artist couple’s legacy.
Amazing
The 100,000th visitor, a couple from Chicago, USA, was welcomed by director Minke Schat and the museum team. ” Amazing! What a surprise. We’re so happy we got to see the Panorama and the exhibition ,” said the unsuspecting couple, who received the English-language Mesdag Album and a party package.
“We’re proud to have reached this 100,000 mark in November,” says director Minke Schat. “With our upcoming Rijksmuseum status, we look to the future with confidence. We can now share this unique heritage—as desired by the museum’s namesakes, Hendrik Willem Mesdag and Sientje Mesdag van Houten—even more effectively with an ever-wider audience, both domestically and internationally.”
Undiminished appeal
The rising visitor numbers demonstrate that the 19th-century Panorama, the collection, and the successful exhibitions, combined with the museum’s valued hospitality and accessibility, continue to appeal to a wide audience. Scarlett Hooft Graafland’s exhibition “Mesmerizing ,” which ran from March to September, attracted a huge number of visitors and received rave reviews in the media. The current exhibition “Light, Air, Water – The Painters of The Hague” is also being exceptionally well-received, with an average visitor rating of over 8 out of 10.
About Museum Panorama Mesdag
Museum Panorama Mesdag is an iconic landmark in The Hague, with the Scheveningen Panorama as its highlight. The museum showcases art by Hendrik Willem Mesdag and Sientje Mesdag-van Houten, as well as temporary exhibitions that connect the past and present. Museum Panorama Mesdag is endlessly captivating for everyone.
Text & Image: Panorama Mesdag
Translation: The Hague Online
Featured image: 100,000th visitor welcomed by museum director Minke Schat